Fickle
by Dawnbright75.Aracalima
Summary: An entry for the FroggyClan November 2012 Writing Contest. Somewhere in between The New Prophecy books. I don't own them, so I can't look them up. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight, plus Ashfur. What happens when Firestar puts the three on a private hunting patrol, and afterwards? One-shot.


**Nov. 2012**

My claws slide in and out. Sheathed and unsheathed. A low growl thunders in my throat. From the shadows of the warriors' den, I watch Squirrelflight talk with the gray warrior. She's so fickle! I thought she cared.

"Brambleclaw, hunting patrol. You're leading," Firestar yowls to me. Sighing, I pick myself up and stalk out of camp, making a point to brush the ginger she-car's fur.

"Wait, I'm hunting with you!" She cries. She jumps to her paws and rubs her cheek to mine. "You can't forget about me!"

Fickle.

Ashfur stretches his legs, and I feel a bubble of anger float from the volcano that is my heart. "Firestar gave you me as well," he mews cheerfully. Despite his friendly behavior, I see a gleam in his eyes that makes my belly lurch. It's a murderous look.

"Any cat else?" I call. No cats join us. Then I feel a bolt of anger towards Firestar. He purposely put us in this patrol! Does he want Ashfur to gut me? Not that that would ever happen. Squirrelflight will choose me because I am loyal only to her and ThunderClan, but not Ashfur, her late lover. "All right," I mutter. "Let's see how this goes."

As soon as we leave the very social camp, Squirrelflight scents the air. What a magnificent hunter, I think. Strong and speedy, just like her father that is the forest's fire. "What's riding the breeze?" I ask.

Ashfur snorts. "Can't you use your nose?" He sneers.

Squirrelflight grins, she grins! "Oh, come on! He's just being sweet!"

Ashfur glowers at her response. "I smell mouse." He bounds away, tail flicking with irritation.

Squirrelflight stares at with green eyes. They are glazed with distress. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "I never wanted this to happen!"

I bow my head. "It's all right. Let's hunt." We chase after Ashfur, our pelts a blur of brown and ginger. Her warmth is comforting, though it's making me giddy.

He's waiting for us with a caught shrew. "What took so long?" He asks, not at all casually, as he sees we walk close. Personally, I think our run took only a few heartbeats. Then again, I was giddy.

"Why don't you stuff that shrew in your mouth and shut up," I suggest. I ignore Squirrelflight's glare. So fickle! "I smell rabbit," I murmur hurriedly. I glance at Squirrelflight. "Would you like to work a duet?"

"I'm sure Firestar meant us to work as a trio," Ashfur butt in. He eyed me, visibly shaking with anger. I manage my own madness by a few mouse-lengths. "I'll hunt with you as well." He buries his shrew and throws back his head in a long tasting-of-the-air. I only growl. Squirrelflight is mine, I loved her first. Then he stole her heart, and I tug back. Might the only way to settle this be the way Ashfur wants to end me?

Squirrelflight races ahead. I follow, with Ashfur not far behind. He draws nearer, and finally passes me. My whiskers twitch. How dare he think he is faster than I! I am starting to feel this is a game. I start to carelessly talk. "Ya know, Squirrelflight will love the one who reaches her first!" Then I speed away. I don't see Ashfur's sullen face.

We enter camp, carrying four mice, two voles, two voles, and Ashfur's shrew. Squirrelflight and I drop our catches and separate for the evening. Though it is time to share tongues, my giddy hunt with Squirrelflight has tired me. Ashfur leaves us as well. He pads into the warriors' den, so I find my space and lay down on a warm rock. The last energies of the sun still linger here, and I soak them up with pleasure. Sighing, I happily drift into the darkness, and welcome it.

"Idiot!"

Startled, I scramble to my paws. My amber eyes dart wildly around, until they find two harsh, yellow eyes to stare back at. Out of the shadows, a dark gray she-cat emerges. She stinks badly of crow-food, and maybe mouse bile. I recognize her; she saved me as a kit back in the old ThunderClan camp.

"We meet again, Yellowfang," I murmur, and bow my head low in respect. "What possessed you to summon me to StarClan's hunting grounds?"

She hisses, and I feel tiny drops of wetness touch my fur. I flinch. "Ashfur is a threat!" She snarls. "And all you've done about it is make it grow worse and worse!"

I back away, cringing. I remember our giddy hunt; I had been as naive as a kit. I flick my tail, anxious to escape the vicious she-cat's wraith. "I- I don't know what you mean!" I sputter, desperate for her to release me back to the white world.

Her hackles are rising. "You know very well what I mean," she says, her voice ominously cold. "He is jealous, and you fed that seed water until it formed a bud of an ugly blossom. You will destroy her life, Brambleclaw." Then I am tumbling back to the forest, the real one, where I open my eyes to a sight I hate.

A ginger she-cat has her tail entwined around a gray tom's. They seem perfectly content, peaceful and happy. The tom says something that makes her shake with laughter. My heart twists until it is shadowed with dark hate. Ashfur cannot, and will not, have the daughter of the great fire. Fickle she may be, but Ashfur has no right to steal her while I take time to myself.

Squirrelflight gazes in my direction, and flashes me a beautiful smile. She doesn't even beckon me! Fickle, fickle, fickle! I pad over, and lick her cheek. She removed her tail from Ashfur's, and instead encloses it around mine. Ashfur daintily moves away to settle with Ferncloud, his sister. I will think about Yellowfang's words. This fickle she-cat will choose her own, but I will aways sway her to me.

The cats of StarClan now settle in the navy blanket that is draped over the lake, our new home. Squirrelflight dozes beside me. I am about to join her, without a cranky old she-cat to bother me, when I hear a voice.

"...Ferncloud, she is mine! Why should she trust the son if Tigerstar?"

Ashfur. I don't see him, but I an follow his voice and scent. Carefully, without disturbing my beloved, I stalk quietly to where my ears and nose takes me. They lead me just out of camp, where Ashfur and Ferncloud are laying in the shade, hidden. I creep around the bend, upwind, so he cannot scent me.

"She loves you!" Says Ferncloud's hushed whisper. Her voice is frantic, as if she wants to get out of this conversation.

"She loves Brambleclaw!" Ashfur hisses with bitterness. So he is jealous! I never said Yellowfang was wrong, but I never said I believe her, either!

Knowing this is my time to leave, I do. I decide to catch a mouse so it looks like I've been hunting, not eavesdropping. So I pick up a few pieces of prey, and then I am back in camp.

I curl up next to Squirrelflight, and breathe on her cheek: "I love you." I lap her fur there, and then I close my eyes. She is a lovely, fickle she-cat that I adore. I will protect her always from Ashfur, until she bears my kits and he sees he has no chances left.

My fickle Squirrelflight is forever mine.


End file.
